Chapter Text
The library is quieter than usual.
Once classes are all finished, students are free to make their way to whatever part of the school they’d like to kill the next few hours of their day, the library being one of the most popular spots for immediate after class studying and finishing up homework as quickly as possibly before actually heading back to the dorms or getting permission to head somewhere off of school grounds for an hour or two. As the clock strikes five, most students that had been around had already begun to vacate the area awhile ago.
Occupying the large round table closer to the back of the library, however, still sat a handful of students with books and papers messily scattered across the wooden surface.
“This information isn’t sticking anymore. It’s like I can actually feel my brain rejecting the words on the paper and screaming at me to stop.” Kaminari complained, head buried in his arms as he did his best to ignore the work in front of him.
“You’ve only been at this for a few hours.” Kirishima responded, tapping his pencil mindlessly against the back of Kaminari’s head as he rests his chin in this other hand. Despite his words, Kirishima was also starting to slack off from studying and taking any excuse he could to tear his eyes away from the words that seem to look more like jumbled gibberish the more he tried to read them.
“A few hours too long. Can we take a break? Or maybe just stop for the day? It’s already five!” Ashido chimed in. She leaned back in her chair as she blew a few loose strands of hair out of her face. She was usually able to focus on studying pretty well, not as easily distracted as some of the boys sitting around her, but wasting the whole day away with a book stuck to your hands and eyes glued to a page was not how she wanted to spend all of her evenings.
“You can do whatever you want. Not like you’re handcuffed to the table.” Bakugou muttered without stopping the movement of his pencil.
“Oh, sounds kinky.” Kaminari answered, a giggle passing his lips that Ashido was quick to join in on. Bakugou rolled his eyes, more than used to the dumb jokes the group comes up with and not losing focus because of it.
“Jokes aside, I’m probably gonna call it here.” Jirou spoke up, Sero nodding beside her in agreement as they both started to pack their things once the giggles had started to dial down.
“Wait, wait, wait for me! I don’t wanna study anymore, let's do something fun.” Kaminari said, messily packing up his books and papers so quickly Jirou and Sero were sure a page or two was gonna rip in half.
“I desperately need a nap first, but maybe we can watch a movie tonight or something. Anyone interested just text the group chat movie ideas. No horror movies, though, we did that last time.” Sero said, pointing an accusing finger at Kaminari before he could even say a word. Kaminari followed with a pout, fist bumping Kirishima on the way out and waving at the rest of the table.
Mina had been in the midst of packing up her things as well through the commotion, but before she could stand she looked over at both Bakugou and Kirishima to see the two of them hadn't put anything away and didn’t look like they had any intention of leaving anytime soon.
“Gonna stay and study some more?” Ashido questioned.
“Yeah, maybe for a little while longer.” Kirishima answered, eyelids drooping slightly as he said it but a soft yet tired smile still prominent on his face as he replied, chin now resting in both his hands.
Ashido simply smiled back, something that looked almost like mischief twinkling in her eyes as she excused herself from the table on that note, a ‘don’t work too hard’ being called back to them as she made her way towards the door. With one final wave in Ashido’s direction, Kirishima turned his attention back to the table in front of him and to the last remaining person at the table besides himself still furiously writing in his notebook.
Kirishima held his own pencil in his hands, twisting it back and forth between all of his fingers for about a minute while he listened to the scratch of Bakugou’s pencil on his paper. After a couple more seconds, the spinning pencil had lost all appeal and ended up out of his hand and on the table instead, crossing his arms on top of his work to rest his cheek against them with his face facing Bakugou.
“Go to your room if you’re tired, idiot.” Bakugou said, no real bite to his words.
“Mmm, nah, wouldn’t want you studying here all alone. Gonna keep you company.”
“Some company you are when you’re asleep.” He responded, but it wasn’t met with any sort of real response. Instead it was met with a fond laugh and a smile that took up Kirishima’s entire face.
There it was again. That heart pounding feeling that clenched his chest whenever he heard the red head laughing, especially when it was him that was making him laugh. He hated how a sound that simple could make him feel like he couldn’t breathe, even if it was only for a few seconds. After experiencing this feeling for years, he’d think it would be easier to deal with, but instead Bakugou is convinced it's actually becoming harder.
He had only been half joking when he mentioned the idea of Kirishima actually falling asleep at this table with him, and he was only half surprised when he heard the barely audible snore coming from the red head about ten minutes later.
Bakugou stopped writing for a second, suddenly unable to focus on the words he halted mid sentence. Looking up from his paper, he was met with the sight of the boy sleeping peacefully, mouth slightly open and shoulders gently rising and falling with each breath he took. The window behind Bakugou illuminating the light of a setting sun, soft shades of orange and yellows highlighting the boys red hair and cheeks, a piece of the shade on the window miraculously blocking the light from shining onto the boys shut eyes. His skin looked much softer in this lighting, contrast to the fact he possessed a quirk that literally held the opposite effect.
A barely audible sigh escaped Kirishima's nose, one single breath much louder than the rest, as his shoulders seemed to relax just the slightest bit more. Placing the pencil he had gripped in his hand lightly on the table, the books in front of him started to become abandoned as Bakugou took a few minutes to sit in the peaceful scene.
It’s rare that he feels this calm. It took him a very long time to feel calm or safe in general anywhere, especially at UA of all places ever since all the events that transpired during his first year here, but every year added to his time he spends within these walls surrounded by people he is learning to trust more everyday, breathing gets a little easier.
Now, sitting here in this library with the windows cracked open slightly, a slight breeze and soft sunlight streaming in to illuminate the dull colors of the books, shelves, and disgustingly picked rugs and wallpaper along with the not so disgusting highlight to the red head beside him resting soundly on his own papers and textbooks, it’s a mystery how things have gotten this comfortable for him in the first place.
With a small sigh, Bakugou leaned back in his chair and glanced over at the clock above the exit to check the time. Despite the fact that it has felt like hours of the two of them sitting there, it has actually only been a little over twenty minutes. Subconsciously, Bakugou lifts a hand up to the chain he has hidden under the collar of his shirt and tied around his neck.
Very rarely will Bakugou decide to wear the locket he had found all those years ago. He has been trying to break out of the mindset of paranoia that he is never safe, meaning nothing on his person is either which puts the locket at a greater risk of getting lost once again or even worse, potentially breaking more than just the chain. Some days he feels safer with it on his person where he can keep an eye on it and feel the familiar weight of it against his chest, tucked and hidden under his shirt where others can’t identify it, and other days he feels it’s best to bury it underneath a mountain of clothes in one of his drawers he is sure no one would go through and he would not forget about. On days like today, he makes sure to fix his shirt properly with every button done up no matter how much he hates the restricting feeling it gives him if he thinks of it too long. That never fails to raise comments and teasing questions from his ground of people he has somehow found himself to call his friends, but he rarely responds with any sort of answer.
Realizing he zoned out for quite a bit there, Bakugou tucks the necklace back underneath his shirt and turned his attention back to Kirishima. He almost hesitates with waking him up, with Kirishima looking as peaceful as he does when asleep like this, however the cons of the matter outweighing it all considering this is not the ideal place to rest at all and he doesn’t want to be somehow indirectly responsible for letting the idiot not only get a stiff neck but getting stuck in this library with no way out when the doors close for good soon.
“Oi.” Bakugou said, loud enough for him to hear and lightly kicking his leg under the table for good measure. He was met with a hum of acknowledgement but other than that, no solid response. “Up.”
“Ugh, why?” Kirishima responded, a whine in his voice and eyebrows furrowed as he lifted his head only enough to rest his chin on his arms instead of his laying sideways on his cheek. There was a slight pink mark on the side of his face where he had rested against his arm, but Bakugou chose to not comment on it and fought back a smile at how ridiculous it looked.
“Lets call it here.” Bakugou says, packing up his books with one final light kick to his legs to push him into getting his stuff together as well. At the sound of that, Kirishima didn’t need to be told twice to call it with studying for the day and was quick to gather his things so he’d be ready to leave in time with Bakugou. Not that Bakugou would leave without him, and they both knew that, even though it was something that would never be addressed out loud.
On their way out the door, Kirishima’s phone began obnoxiously ringing in his back pocket, Bakugou feeling the slight vibrations of a few texts from his own phone making it very easy to conclude that those mutual messages were probably being sent to them by the group chat of people they had both been sat studying with not too long ago.
“Probably about the movie, wait.” Kirishima had mumbled low enough that no one but Bakugou could hear him since Bakugou was directly next to him. Slowing his walk down just a bit so Kirishima didn’t fall too far behind, he looked over his shoulder to see the other boy shifting all his stuff to one arm while he grabbed his phone with the other, unlocking it and picking his pace up once more to match Bakugou’s steps again.
“If you have any input you want to put in on what movie we all watch tonight, then I suggest pulling your phone out right about now.” Kirishima said, looking up at Bakugou inbetween typing with a grin as he sent another text. Bakugou could feel his heart stutter slightly because of that smile, but he buried it, very much used to these feelings by now.
“I don’t give a damn what we watch tonight, I’m not in the mood to argue about it.” He said, finding the button to the elevator easily and stepping on, Kirishima close behind him.
“You say that now but when we settle on a movie of Kaminari’s choice that you don’t want to watch, you’ll wish you did.” Kirishima stated and Bakugou had a feeling he was probably going to be right.
***
Kirishima was fucking right.
Not that Bakugou didn’t see it coming considering the fact that it seemed like Kaminari had this secret bullshit agenda against Bakugou specifically where he would only ever pick films he knows Bakugou wouldn’t give a damn about and wouldn’t watch on his own time just because he felt like it.
Kaminari had walked in, hooked up an illegal movie watching website to the Playstation web browser, and typed in Frozen.
He knew absolutely nothing about this movie except for the fact that there was one unbelievably overplayed and overhyped song that seemed to play in a lot of inconvenient places, and that there is some sort of talking idiot looking snowman, neither of which interested him.
Bakugou had half the mind to get up from the couch and walk right out of the room as soon as he found out what film they were going to be watching. It wouldn’t be the first time he had done something like that, the only consequences being the bitching and moaning immediately following the act, but more hard of a consequence to sit through being the genuine disappointment Kirishima would express about him leaving the next day.
He hated how genuinely upset it actually seemed to make Kirishima. He had only ever done it twice, but he stubbornly tries to make sure he doesn’t ever do it again like the idiotic sap he is.
“I didn’t even know you could play movies like this on here.” Ashido had said through giggles, handing out bottles of water to everyone and placing snacks in the middle of the table.
“I didn’t either until...yesterday.” Kaminari admitted. This wasn’t usually their go to for movies. It was always much easier to settle on watching stuff that was available to them on Netflix, but apparently this movie was a must watch and so research needed to be done considering the fact that Netflix didn’t have this movie readily available.
“Huge fucking shame you found the solution, really. Now we gotta sit through whatever this is.” Bakugou stated, leaning forward to grab the bag of M&M’s before Ashido could open and dump them into a bowl for everyone to share.
“Hey! Those are for everybody, give them back and let me pour them! Also, this movie is really popular for a reason so there's no way we aren’t all going to walk away loving every second of it and begging to rewatch it tomorrow.” Ashido responded, making grabby hands for the M&M’s that Bakugou simply flipped her off for and leaned the bag away from her.
“If I have to sit through this movie then I get this bag of M&M’s as compensation. No sharing.” He stated, tone hard in the sense that there is no use arguing with him as it wasn’t up for debate. Curling in on himself a bit more, he let a small smirk settle on his face as Ashido groaned about made up rules and how unfair it was. With a shrug, Bakugou opened the bag and refused to acknowledge her final failed attempts at getting the bag back.
Once the movie started up, she had given up, grumpily reaching for a bag of chips instead and giving her full attention to the movie, much like everyone else had.
Bakugou did his best to try and pay attention to the plot, something about an ice child, who right off the bat reminded him of an ice-only Todoroki with the quirk she seemed to possess, being hidden away from the rest of the world and a whiny kid wanting the other one to simply open the damn door for once. Despite his best attempts, he was already having trouble focusing because of the weight currently leaning into his side.
It wasn’t unusual for Kirishima and Bakugou to sit this close, and Bakugou was fully aware of this fact, but it didn’t make doing it any easier than the last everytime it managed to happen.
Their shoulders were pressed against each other, as were their thighs, and Bakugou could hear and feel the steady rhythm of his breath even with the movie being as loud and bright as it was in the dark common room they all were currently occupying. Thank goodness for the subtitles Bakugou was only half paying attention to, because those were the only things giving him any context as to what's going on with the sound of his own blood pumping through his ears.
All too suddenly he feels Kirishima's hand invade his personal space and he feels his breath catch in his throat.
“Sorry.” Kirishima, saint that he is, says after noticing Bakugou tense slightly as if assuming he had just scared Bakugou rather than give his heart a jump start.
Kirishima leaves his hand towards the bag of M&M’s he currently holds in his hand, grabs a handful, and Bakugou lets him. Everyone else has their backs turned towards them as they occupy the floors and different chairs. No one has to know or see the fact that despite Bakugou’s silly show of claim over something as simple as a bag of M&M’s, he will let Kirishima eat the entire bag if he wants. He would drop the bag in the other boys lap if that wouldn’t look more strange than this.
About an hour into the movie, bag of candy forgotten about and discarded on the floor, Bakugou had finally started to pay a bit more attention to the plot. He already knows which characters he isn’t a fan of, which characters are annoying the shit out of him or he simply does not seem to trust, and which characters he actually doesn’t mind too much and is hoping their stories turn out okay. It's a bit easier to focus on the movie the longer it plays, drowning out all and any thoughts about the boy beside him despite how loud the thoughts are. He mentally demands the ice quirk girl to drown out his own overthinking essays with her singing.
Bakugou has learned with years of practice that shutting his own brain off is not impossible, but simply takes a lot of practice. The first year of movie nights had been excruciatingly hard to get through, his only saving grace being the dimmed lights hiding an unasked for blush that would dust his cheeks every time for the first couple months. Now, after years, Bakugou can’t tell how much worse or better he is at keeping his own feelings unnoticed and hidden underneath a thousand chained locks.
His half focus on the movie and his mind were abruptly interrupted by the feel of something on his shoulder, once again causing him to catch a shortness of breath.
Kirishima had accidentally managed to fall asleep beside him, head lulling to the side and finding the cushioned fall of Bakugou’s shoulder. Bakugou can feel his cheeks flaming up before he fully has a chance to process that they are.
No one has noticed the fact that Kirishima has fallen asleep, of course they haven’t considered the fact that none of them are looking their way and all of them are too engrossed in this very rocky reunion happening on the screen right now between the sisters. The more minutes that pass, the more Kirishima seems to be unconsciously easing into it and putting more and more of his weight onto Bakugou.
His stupid heart will not quit beating like he’s on the very of death and his body is pumping as much blood through his system as it can to keep him afloat. The feeling in his chest feels straining, so unbelievably straining, as if his heart is caught in a cage and attempting to burst even though there is no way out. He can almost feel his throat aching with the lack of honesty he refuses to let free when it comes to how he really feels, it always does when he is forced to confront his feelings like this, and he hates it. It’s easiest to ignore when the source of his problem stays out of his face, space, and head.
Bakugou tilts his head to the side slightly to see Kirishima’s sleeping face for the second time today, making a small note to probably mention the fact that he was so tired today and yet refused to turn down any offers about studying and movies instead of simply taking a day to himself to relax and maybe catch a nap or something.
With a small huff, Bakugou turned his attention back to the movie, forcing his heart to seize its endless pounding for the hundredth time today alone and put all of his attention on the imaginary life of the fictional characters in front of him rather than confronting any of his repressed feelings about how he is hopelessly in love with his best friend.